Senryu : mirror

mirror in their eyesreflecting only distortionslike so many liesthe vision that they seemust be of someone else,not me

by M. Nakazato LaFrenierepoem and image done when I was in my twenties

mirrors break, oh welldon’t care what they think they seeI am what I am

by M. Nakazato LaFrenierewritten now

Back in my twenties, I used to worry about how people saw me especially since a lot of times it was different than I saw myself. Some people saw me and some people only saw what they wanted me to be or sometimes they saw what I wanted me to be but wasn’t yet. After awhile I realized it didn’t really matter.

I don’t care how others see me. How people see you has a lot more to do with their own needs and hangups than anything you do most of the time anyways. Some people are clear-sighted but they are a minority.

I don’t need to see myself or define myself. It’s simpler than that. I just am.

The photo is a print I did in a photo class back then with 3 negatives that I exposed separately.

Photo 1: me leaning against the mirror

Photo 2: a rose

Photo 3: the poem

I exposed them one at a time in the enlarger. There is a white thumb because like an idiot I was resting my hand against the paper carrier when I put in the mirror picture — duh! laughing. And you didn’t know if you had the exposures right until after you developed the picture so there were a few throwaways. Things are much easier now in Photoshop

lol, sounds like you’ve been up to mischief. But yes, I do think it is a good principle to not worry about what others think as you can’t control people’s thinking anyways. Of course, I am an obscure anonymous person and not famous so I can get away with it. I feel sorry for famous people with everybody saying what they think of them in social networks. It would be hard if you’re a private person. i totally get why Sia hides her face when she sings.

I’m chuckling at the comment about the finger/thumb print on the composite image – but in some ways, it adds another dimension …. ah the moments of the darkroom and all the mishaps …. nothing like walking into walls 😉

lovely piece – and certainly, just being, should be more than enough – but it’s not easy – too many projections, expectations, demands – self-imposed or thrust upon by others and it can get hard to see what’s real – but then, at some point, best to just figure out – you can only be who you are – people will react and respond according to how and who they are – and you’re not responsible for this, or their happiness etc. So right on – just be you. Sounds like a plan.